Still assessing what exactly intel China was able to gather from spy balloon, says Pentagon
Washington (PTI): The United States has said it is still doing an assessment of what exactly intelligence information China was able to gather from its spy balloon that flew over sensitive American military sites in February.
The comments from the Pentagon came after a media report said the Chinese spy balloon gathered information about some of the US military sites through electronic signals.
"As of right now, we're still doing an assessment of what exactly the intel was that China was able to gather but we do know that the steps that we took provided little additive value for what they've been able to collect from satellites before," Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters at a news conference here.
The balloon had entered the United States from Alaska on January 28 and crossed through several States over various sensitive military sites, including Montana where the US stores some of its nuclear assets, before it was shot down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina on February 4.
NBC News, citing two current senior US officials and one former senior administration official, said China was able to control the balloon so it could make multiple passes over some of the sites (at times flying figure eight formations) and transmit the information it collected back to Beijing in real-time.
"The intelligence China collected was mostly from electronic signals, which can be picked up from weapons systems or include communications from base personnel, rather than images, the officials said," the news channel said.
Responding to questions, Singh said because of the steps that the US was able to take, it was able to prevent transmission of certain aspects of the sites to be transmitted.
"But in terms of transmission back to the PRC (People's Republic of China) and what was able to be transmitted back, I just don't have further information for you at this time," she said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, she said, is still assessing the parts that the US was able to recover from the balloon.
"As we mentioned early on when we first started tracking the balloon, we do know that the balloon was able to be manoeuvred and purposely driven along its track but not going to get into specific sites it was able to hover over," Singh said.
"But what we did do is take precautionary steps to limit the intelligence value that it would be able to collect and we took steps to protect our military installations from foreign intelligence collection," she said.
The White House told the reporters that the spy balloon had limited ability to collect intelligence information.
"As the Pentagon said before, the surveillance balloon, we believe, had limited ability to collect any much additional intelligence beyond what could be collected through other surveillance means," White House Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters during an Air Force One gaggle.
Following the news reports, Senator Roger Wicker, ranking member of Senate Armed Services, said "these revelations" clearly demonstrate that the administration made an "unacceptable mistake".
"We have consistently learned more from press reports about the Chinese surveillance balloon than we have from administration officials. These revelations clearly demonstrate that the administration made an unacceptable mistake," he said in a statement.
"I will not abandon my oversight efforts to discover the full range of information related to this event, and I intend to hold this administration accountable. It is critical that Congress also explores the capability and protocol improvements at the Department of Defense that are necessary to prevent something like this failure from ever happening again," Wicker said.
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HC expresses displeasure over non-production of file on not declaring Jama Masjid 'protected'
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi High Court expressed its displeasure on Friday over the failure of authorities to produce before it a file containing the decision of then prime minister Manmohan Singh that the historic Mughal-era Jama Masjid in the national capital should not be declared a protected monument.
A bench headed by Justice Prathiba M Singh observed that in spite of an earlier order, "loose sheets" and other documents were tendered to it instead of the record pertaining to the mosque's status as a monument, its current occupants etc.
Granting a final opportunity, the court sought an affidavit in the matter from a competent officer of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) as well as the original file on the next date of hearing in October.
It also asked the ASI director general to directly supervise the matter and hold a meeting with the central government's counsel -- lawyers Anil Soni and Manish Mohan -- to ensure that a comprehensive affidavit is filed.
The high court was hearing PILs that have sought directions to authorities to declare the Jama Masjid a protected monument and remove all encroachments in and around it.
On August 28, it had directed the Union Ministry of Culture and ASI to positively produce before it a file containing Singh's decision that the Jama Masjid should not be declared a protected monument.
During Friday's hearing, the bench questioned the ASI official present in the court over his failure to comply with the order and said, "Who is not giving the file? We will call the secretary. There are clear instructions."
"A perusal of the notesheets will show that they (the documents produced) mostly relate to the writ petition and follow-up action in relation to the writ petition. Information relating to the Jamia Masjid's status as a monument, maintenance being undertaken by the ASI, the current occupants of the Jamia Masjid and the manner in which the revenue generated is utilised is not contained in the file," the bench, also comprising Justice Amit Sharma, said.
"Let a short affidavit be filed by a competent officer of the ASI with respect to all aspects and the original file be produced on the next date of hearing. This will be undertaken directly in the supervision of the director general of the ASI," the bench added.
The court asked the ASI director general to depute a competent official who is aware of the facts.
The public interest litigation (PIL) matters, filed by Suhail Ahmed Khan and Ajay Gautam in 2014, have objected to the use of the title "Shahi Imam" by the Jama Masjid's imam, Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari, and the appointment of his son as the naib (deputy) imam.
The pleas have also questioned why the mosque is not under the ASI's management.
The Centre's counsel had earlier submitted that the Jama Masjid is a live monument where people offer prayers and there are a lot of restrictions.
The ASI had, in August 2015, told the court that Singh had assured the Shahi Imam that the Jama Masjid would not be declared a protected monument.
The court was also informed that as the Jama Masjid is not a centrally-protected monument, it does not fall within the ASI's purview.
"In 2004, the issue of notifying the Jama Masjid as a centrally-protected monument was raised. However, former prime minister Manmohan Singh assured the Shahi Imam, vide his October 20, 2004 letter, that the Jama Masjid would not be declared as a centrally-protected monument," the ASI had said in its affidavit in the court.
